


Fate Mink Goes (on an adventure!!)

by MdPikachu



Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: ALSO HAS FATE GO SPOILERS!!!, CHAPTERCEPTION BITCHES, Other, also the chapters can have chapters, fate goes, fate/mink, i didnt take psych in college for fuck nothin, i try to stay accurate though, if yall think im tagging her every servant, occasionally depictions of mental or physical illness?, or every character that shows up, ur nuckin futz, violence ticked off jic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 12:16:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20309353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MdPikachu/pseuds/MdPikachu
Summary: The same garbage, but now on ao3!!In an altered world of Fate/Go, protag. Minako gets her first Servant and starts her, well, adventures and general nonsense.Since this is all backstory material, it's going to be kind of a mess with a lot of time skips. Oh well.





	1. Fate Mink gets Clowned™

## –Ch.1–

Minako downright couldn’t wait for her turn.

Having descended from a line of mages, she was the next to receive a Servant of her own. She’d expected a grand ceremony, with a great feast and a party, not a dull line in a white hallway. Though disappointed at first, she’d recalled that she’d still be getting the Servant, and her enthusiasm was renewed. She held the ticket in her hand tightly, not wanting to wait much longer. She’d been waiting since she was six years old for this day, and she wasn’t going to get out of it for any reason- Even if she badly needed the restroom.

Three people ahead of her on the line. She wondered what type of Servant she would be paired with. Her mother had an Assassin class Servant, matching her quick and quiet tendencies. Her father had a Caster class Servant, one that had been with him for years. They were exceptionally powerful, easily able to sweep away droves of enemies with minimal ease. She wondered if she’d get an Assassin or Caster class.

Two people ahead of her on the line. What if her Servant was weak or stubborn? What if she got a bad Servant, one known for backstabbing? What if she got one of the Servants her father had recommended burning immediately? Could she even give them a chance? She wanted to, but she didn’t want to get on her father’s bad side- Or worse, her mother’s bad side.

One person ahead of her on the line. She double checked, triple checked the summon ticket in hand. Was it still good? Yes, it was. Worry gave way to excitement, anxiety gave way to joy. She could see the flashes of light from the room ahead. It was nearly her turn!

She was let into the room. She’d seen the pedestal before, but never so close and personally. From such a short distance, she was able to see the various wires and bulbs. Nodding to herself, she turned and inserted the ticket into the slot. Her beloved paper, the signed slip to her new adventure was pulled in and scanned, never to be seen again. She personally suspected it would be shredded, but she did not consider that now. Her eyes turned to the pedestal. She was ready.

The summoning process was always cool to her, but it was especially cool now that red lights had also gone on. It lost a few points, though, when the multiple nearby screens all began to display warnings. The main screen did not show a warning, instead showing a silver Caster card. She got a Caster, just like her father!

“Looks like you hit the jackpot, Master! I am the Devil Mephistopheles. And I have been called upon!”

Anyone else would stare in horror at the summoned monstrosity that is an insult to all other Servants by being one himself. Minako, on the other hand, looked about ready to squeal with delight. A demon! A real demon! Those are nearly divine!

“It’ll be a pleasure working with you, Mephistopheles,” she blurted, holding her hand out, “Just don’t do to me what you did to Faust!” Mephisto loudly began to laugh, leaning so far back that he nearly lost his balance. “Why certainly! Just don’t bore me, and we’re set!” He took her hand, and gave it a solid shake. She was partnered with a demon! This was the best day of her life!

## –Ch.2–

This was the worst day of her life. Mephisto was stubborn, irritating, and annoyingly difficult. Even just walking back down the hall quickly became a difficult chore with Mephisto repeatedly stopping and pointing out something mediocre. “Will you cut that out?” Minako nearly snapped, tugging on his arm, “We need to get going!”

Mephisto’s response was to, again, bust out laughing. “Hostile, aren’t you?” he choked out, holding his sides tightly, “I’m a pacifist, I’ll have you know!”

He proceeded to actually choke, mostly due to Minako grabbing and pulling on his cape. Ignoring his cries and pleas to be let go, she dragged him all the way to their destination- the simulation room. This is where their skills would be tested for the first time. Minako had been excited about this, but Mephisto’s behavior was dampening the mood. He noticed her sour face and straightened up.

“Eh, hehehe! Have you lost your nerve, Master?” Master. That’s right, she was the boss here. Giving Mephisto the most threatening glare she could muster, she announced “Not at all, you big bully! You better do well here, or I’ll kick your butt!”

Another grin from Mephisto- More specifically, a smirk. “There is none better than I at serving faithfully,” he bragged teasingly, reaching over and ruffling her hair, “Heh heh heh!”

Mephisto proceeded to be pushed onto the battlefield as the simulation started up. Minako, having seen this many times before, was not impressed. Mephisto, on the other hand, was quickly distracted. “They changed this up since the last time I saw it… How interesting!” He bent down to try and touch the grass when Minako yelled, prompting him to quickly roll out of the way of an oncoming attack. The opposing false Saber pulled their sword out of the ground, and lunged towards him. Mephisto quickly rolled away a second time. As he came out of this second roll, he pulled out a pocket watch-looking thing and tagged the opposing Saber. He took too long doing this, earning him a cut across his face. He appeared unfazed by it, leisurely floating back and shrugging to Minako. “This is it.”

The watch exploded, destroying the fake Saber with ease.. Before Mephisto could joke about it, a spear was thrust just past his torso. Barely sparing the simulated Lancer a glance, Mephisto slammed a pair of finely decorated scissors into their face. “Don’t you know not to hit someone with scissors?” He chuckled into the crook of his arm, not realizing that a hoax Archer had materialized nearby and was taking aim at him.

“Watch out, Mephisto!” Minako cried out, and he immediately jumped to the side. “How interesting!” he yelled back, slinging a bomb towards the Archer. “You do care about me, despite me driving you up the wall!”

As the simulation ended and faded away, she stomped her foot on the ground. “Yes, I do! Just because I’m your Master doesn’t mean I can’t care! Now shut up and stay right here so I can find the bathroom!” She hurried out, leaving the bemused demon behind.

Sitting down in the air, his grin gradually subsided. A Master capable of caring? For him? He shook his head, his laugh weary. He’d never lasted as a Servant for more than a week.

As he wondered how quickly he would be burned this time, Minako reappeared, hurrying through the room and mumbling “Went the wrong way.” Mephisto raised his eyebrows and called out to her, prompting her to stop. “What?”

“You went the wrong way!” Mephisto yelled back with a grin. He maintained it even through the profanity that was thrown his way, as he tried not to giggle about the language. He gave in and burst once he was sure she was out of earshot. Even if she turned out as awful as the others, at least she was funny.

## –Ch.3–

Minako had never been a morning person, and today was no exception. Grumbling to herself and dragging herself out of her room, it took her a few minutes to fully register the demon that was poorly trying to juggle while watching the tv. Words not exactly coming to mind, the most she could do was say “You’re still here?”

“Yes, that’s right,” came Mephisto’s reply, his attention on the tv, “I’m your Servant. I’m not going anywhere without you, Master.” He expected a response, and was surprised to realize she wasn’t giving one. Giving up with the juggling and letting the balls fall to the floor, he finally turned away from the tv to see what she was doing.

Minako had walked away to get a box of cereal, which she opened and started eating out of. She noticed his stare and shuffled over to him, offering him the box as she dropped onto the couch. “Our first real mission isn’t for a while, so I don’t really care what you do today.” She picked up the remote as Mephisto curiously inspected the box’s contents. As he reached into it, Minako changed the station.

There was a scream and Mephisto jumped, pulling out his scissors and looking about for the threat. His attempt was met by Minako busting out laughing, beating her fist against the couch. He stared at her in complete confusion for a minute, before realizing the scream had been from the tv. He shook his head, a sheepish smile growing on his face as he replaced the scissors.

“My, my, I can’t turn my back on you, Master! I might have made a mistake in being summoned! Hahaha!” For the first time since being summoned, he wondered if she was the Master he’d stay with for the rest of their lives. Quickly pushing that thought to the side, he sunk down to the sofa and put his hand back into the box. He’d worry about that later.

It wasn’t until about an hour later when Minako noticed the uncomfortable Mephisto. She’d been so focused on the horror flick that she hadn’t noticed his reactions. Every time the main spook appeared on screen, Mephisto pulled his hat down over his eyes and held it there for a couple of moments, before slightly picking it up and peeking. It was.. Almost cute? She nearly wanted to pat his head and tell him it’d be fine.

Mephisto nearly jumped into the air when she did so. “What was that about?!” he demanded, his tails all sticking straight up into the air. He looked almost offended, but not exactly confused either.

“You looked scared, so I was gonna tell you it was all okay,” Minako admitted, shrugging, “And I’m gonna. It’s all okay. If you want, I can change it-” “No! No, don’t!” Mephisto interrupted, looking back to the tv. “I’m! Scared but I’m also invested! I want to know if she gets away!”

They watched the last half hour of the movie, sitting a bit closer together than they were before. Minako was dully aware of Mephisto’s tails bumping against her back, as well as how warm he was…

## –Ch.4–

Minako made the mental note to not sleep on the couch again, no matter how comfortable it was. Along with probably missing dinner, she had absolutely no idea where Mephisto had gone. It wasn’t until she sat up that she noticed that the outside lights were off, which only meant one thing. Her father was home.

Her father, meanwhile, was trying to get straight answers out of Mephisto. “What do I like?” he repeated, tilting his head. He pretended to think about this for far longer than actually necessary before settling on an answer. “A surprised face, that’s what I love so very much!” He grinned widely and quickly added “You’re going to ask what I hate too, right? The answer to that is how boring peaceful periods are. I’m so glad they break in the blink of an eye! It gives me something to do!” He was going to continue, when he heard the sound of a growling stomach from just outside the room. Grinning wider yet and looking at the doorway, he laughed. “Hehe! Your own stomach betrayed you!”

Minako groaned and gave up her eavesdropping position, looking more sour than she actually was. “You’re a bully, Mephisto!” she teased, tugging on a tail as she passed by. As she hugged and greeted her father, Mephisto leaned back in the chair he was sitting in. “Aha, that’s right. I’m the bully Mephistopheles.”

Her father’s Servant stepped closer, inspecting Mephisto carefully. Meeting Mephisto’s eyes, he introduced himself. “You may call me Paracelsus.” It was going to be left at this, when Mephisto narrowed his own eyes. “Van Hohenheim? I’ve heard of you.” This caught the interest of both Paracelsus and Minako’s father, who both leaned forward in interest. “How do you know my name when Master Daichi did not tell you?” Paracelsus inquired, and Mephisto tipped his chair a bit further back. This was far too unbalanced and the chair fell over, but not before Mephisto jumped out of it and sat back down in midair while giggling.

“My first master told me about you! That’s all. He! Was interested in things you did!” With both Daichi and Paracelsus wanting to know more, Mephisto hurried out of the room while his giggles turned to full blown laughter. “Serenity Mary wanted to meet him too..” Minako lamented, inadvertently prompting her mother’s heavily dressed Servant to look into the room. “I did. I will wait, though. I may kill him with a handshake.” She also quickly exited, leaving Minako even more exasperated.

“Dad, why are Servants so weird?” she asked, not really wanting an answer. To prevent an answer from coming, she quickly added “And did I miss dinner?”

## –Ch.5–

Thankfully for Minako, she did not miss dinner. Having scarfed down food until she felt like she’d burst, she didn’t want to do much. Unfortunately, she had to- Mephisto had run off, meaning she had to find him. She wondered where he was hiding.

In actuality, he wasn’t hiding at all. He had decided to perch outside, on the balcony railing so that he could stare at the stars. They were so clear here. While he had never been particularly interested in space, he could agree that it was cool to look at. It also helped him think, helped more by the near-silence. All he could hear from his perch were crickets.

Was it worth letting himself get attached to this Master? It was clear to him that she definitely cared about him, and even her family seemed to accept him. Was it safe? He hoped it was safe. This would be the second safe Master he’s had, the first being……

“Faust of all, what are you doing out here?” Minako joined him at the balcony, as Mephisto processed the pun. He smiled slightly, but did not laugh.

“Thinking. I never lasted this long with anyone before.”

He watched as Minako blinked. That had been unexpected to her. “Well, if it helps any? I like you a lot, buddy!” His mood improved significantly, with his tails braiding around the rails and a growing smile on his face. Unsure how to formulate a pleasing reply, he patted her head and looked back up.

They stayed here for a while, gazing at the clear sky until Mephisto looked back at Minako. “Now for a shocking confession!” he announced, startling Minako slightly. “I’m not actually a demon! Please, think of me as something like a demon!” He removed his hat, and with it came the giant horns. Under it was two very stubby horns, nothing like the ones on the hat’s display.

Noting her neutral expression, he asked “What, you knew?” She shrugged, before leaning over and placing a hand close to his face. He warily watched her hand as it moved closer and… Lightly booped his nose.

“You’re a clown!” she decided, chuckling, “The rarest of all cryptids!” Mephisto raised an eyebrow, trying not to laugh as well. “I’m just a clown?”

He began to clap, as well as allowing a few giggles through. “How! Discerning! Brilliant!” They stared at each other for a few moments, before they both burst into a fit of laughter. From behind them, Serenity softly smiled and shook her head. Now she and the rest of the household had two troublemakers to deal with.

## –Ch.6–

It wasn’t until 10 AM that Minako got out of bed, and she immediately proceeded to nearly trip on Mephisto. Managing to leave the room without waking him, she found the house oddly empty. Neither her mother nor father had work today, and none of the Servants had anywhere to be, so where was everyone? Shrugging, she decided to eat before invesigating.

As if this course of action had been predicted, a note had been taped to the cabinet. It being high up, Minako had to get on her toes to reach and pull down the note.

“Me, your mother, and our Servants had a last-minute mission to go on. We should be home by 5 pm. If we’re not back by then, call us. ~♥Dad”

Minako huffed and crumpled up the note. She had no idea why her father always added that last part- They were always home on time. After tossing the note towards the trash- and missing completely- she returned her attention to her prior goal.

By the time Mephisto bothered to come out, Minako had already torn through the pantry for poptarts and was flipping through channels, bored out of her mind. She quickly explained the situation to him, her eyes not leaving the tv screen. This proved to be a mistake, as Mephisto immediately began to be problematic behind her back. The next time she glanced back to see what kind of ruckus he was making, he had gotten decorations from somewhere and was hanging them up.

“Ehe! It’s about to be Halloween in here!”

Once she had finished laughing, she joined him in decorating, despite it being June. She pointed this out, which was met with a “Hmmhmm,” and nothing else. She prepared to ask another question- This one armor-piercing. She cleared her throat, gaining Mephisto’s attention. Then, she asked.

“Why?”

There was an uncomfortable silence for a couple of moments, before Mephisto began to beam. “Why! Ever not?” he asked in return, tilting his head in curiosity. “Now, look at this!” From behind his back he pulled a plush spider, which he placed on the table with surprising gentleness. “We’re putting Ticking-kun right here as our centerpiece!” That being done, Minako gladly dived her hands into the decoration box. It was time to have some FUN.

## –Ch.7–

They had decorated the entire living room and kitchen, but Minako’s parents did not return within that time. She frowned, looking up at the cobweb-covered clock. Five-seventeen. Mephisto didn’t seem concerned, glad to have more time to fool around.

Groaning and dropping back onto the sofa, Minako took a compact out of her pocket and flipped it open. Not long after she did so, Mephisto looked over her shoulder. “Lotsa buttons for a mirror, isn’t it?” Minako didn’t bother answering, pressing a button and bringing up a holographic screen.

As she accessed her contacts, Mephisto complimented the pink color scheme of her menus. Again, Minako did not answer. She was more interested in calling her father. Ring, ring. Ring, ring. Ring, ring. Voicemail. Her annoyance turning to worry, Minako now dialed her mother. Mephisto wisely stayed silent. Ring, ring. Ring, ring. Ring, ring. Ring, ring. Voicemail.

Facial expression unchanging, Minako opened and called one last contact, this one labeled “ROMAN”. It rang for a few seconds, then stopped. As she thought it was going to go to voicemail, a miracle happened.

“Dr. Romani here! Is something wrong, Miss Yoshida?” A ginger man’s portrait popped up on screen, his brow furrowed in worry. “You only call when something’s up. Parents not home?”

Minako nodded, confirming his beliefs. “They’re way late. They’re not even answering me, Doc!” She loudly groaned, and held the compact up a bit higher. “Where are they?”

Roman held up a finger and slid offscreen. Though he was no longer visible, his voice was still slightly audible. Both Minako and Mephisto put their ears close to the contact, but couldn’t make out what he was saying. Still not appearing to be bothered, Mephisto settled on the sofa next to her. He wanted to be noticed, it seemed. He got his wish as Roman appeared back on screen. He had been ready to speak when he noticed Mephisto and nearly did a double-take. Ignoring this, Minako asked about her parents again.

“They’re still out! Sorry, Minako. There was way more enemies than originally called for!” He hummed and tapped his desk, thinking. “You’re old enough and you’ve got a Servant. If you want, you could bring supplies to them?”

“Yes, absolutely!!” Minako announced, standing up and holding her compact out. “I’m on it!… Where are we going??”

## –Ch.8–

Minako, with Mephisto in tow, arrived at the old factory in a record time. Her arms and backpack full of supplies, it had become Mephisto’s job to announce their presence. Minako immediately regretted giving him this power as he did as asked as _loudly_ as he _possibly_ could, giving Minako the most infuriating smirk known to mankind. She could have dealt with this fine, but she proceeded to be approached by at least five of her seniors- All of which started saying that Mephisto was an awful Servant.

Neither Master nor Servant were able to respond for a couple of minutes, staring at the offenders. Mephisto seemed hurt, despite the smile plastered onto his face. Minako, on the other hand, was smiling to hide her anger. “You guys know,” she started, her facade cracking, “That we could stuff bombs down your throats and that we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we?”

The seniors were quick to back away, sharing looks of unease with each other. They had seen Daichi lose his temper, and they had seen his wife lose her temper. They were not willing to see Minako follow in their footsteps.

Chuckling and giggling, Mephisto pat her back as she put the supplies down. “Ah, how romantic! And pedantic! Not to mention effective! I’m going to take notes from you!” Minako nodded, not really listening, as she looked over the table’s other contents. The most eye-catching thing to her was a white bottle, with black symbols hastily scrawled on it. She went to pick it up when Mephisto swat her hand away, taking it for himself.

“Antimony and death, heh?” he wondered aloud, putting it back where it had been. “I’m glad I’m not the sonofabitch that got sprayed on!” Noticing Minako’s raised eyebrows, he raised his own to mock her. “It’s fine, it’s fine! It won’t affect people- Ehe!” He laughed as he caught her hand, preventing her from picking up the bottle herself. She pouted- She wanted to read it for herself. This was not going to be allowed, apparently.

Minako and Mephisto were also apparently not allowed to enter the factory. It was too dangerous for a newbie like Minako, and there was no guarantee that Mephisto would behave. Groaning, Minako sat down in the grass. Here she stayed for a while, before realizing something crucial- Mephistopheles had wandered away, and she did not see him.

## –Ch.9–

Mephisto nonchalantly let himself into the factory window, completely ignoring the orders he was given. Where was the fun in staying outside? He wanted to watch the action. He wondered what path to take, when he realized Minako was climbing in the window behind him.

“What are you doing, you bully? We’re not supposed to be here..!” She frowned and brushed her clothes off. Mephisto seemed to consider her words, tilting his head to the side. He ultimately shrugged and tilted his head the other way. “I smell something interesting,” he stated, looking back towards the hallway. “You know you want to be here, anyways!”

Knowing he was correct, Minako gave up and nodded. “Lets go find my parents!” she exclaimed, grabbing a hold of Mephisto’s wrist and beginning to power down the hall. Mephisto did not mind- It freed him to observe the white dust that had settled all over the place. Running his free hand over the wall and bringing it close to his face, he barely inhaled before coughing. Whatever it was, it made his throat burn something fierce. Realizing that Minako had looked back at him in concern, he forced a laugh. “Ahahaha! Hahahahagh!” Amid his laugh, he began coughing again. Once he recovered, he gave her a big smile. “I choked, hahaha!” She shook her head and returned to pulling him, unaware that Mephisto had dropped the facade the moment she had turned around.

It wasn’t until they reached a room that they stopped, with Mephisto pulling out his scissors. There were white and gray masses of slime and flesh scattered throughout the room, all powdered with the snowy dust that had been encountered in the hallway. There was an eerie silence here, and all was still.

Letting go of Mephisto’s wrist, Minako slowly approached one of the mounts of white. “Is this alive…?” she pondered, reaching out to poke it. Her hand easily submerging into it, she shuddered. It felt gooey and sticky. As she pulled her hand back out, the mound shifted and shook, beginning to stand up. It loudly moaned as Mephisto pulled his master back, pointing his scissors at it.

“Homunculus!” the clown cried, jabbing at it. Groaning, the monster swiped at Mephisto with a half-melted hand. Mephisto easily evaded it, and it fell back to the ground. Mephisto shook his head and withdrew a bomb, frowning as he primed it. “Poor thing. This is as far as you go!”

Lightning fast, Mephisto plunged his entire arm into the homunculus. He withdrew just as fast, just in time for the unfortunate creature to spectacularly explode. Minako had barely covered her face when goo was splattered across her front, prompting her to shriek. Mephisto turned back to look at her, wiping his face off with his cape and hiding a concerned stare.

“That was disgusting!” Minako announced, grabbing a hold of Mephisto’s cape to wipe herself off with. “Can we not do that again??”

Having been met by silence, Minako pulled her face out of the furry depths of the cape. Seeing more and more homunculi rising from the ground, she groaned. “This is going to be filthy! Go get them, Mephisto, but do it over there!!” With a mock courtesy and a salute, Mephisto whipped out an arms’ length of bombs. “Certain! Ly!”

He moved forward, twirling his scissors as he eyed his enemies. “Well, well. Hostile, aren’t you? Sorry, but I love to fight!” With a shout and a yell, Mephisto leaped into battle.

## –Ch.10–

Minako had never been as filthy as she was right now. She was almost completely covered in homunculus slime, as was Mephisto. They both dragged themselves through the the remains of the battlefield, the goo weighing them down. When they both finally reached the next room, they dropped to the floor in unison.

“We’re free,” Minako croaked, “We did it.” From her left came coughs and chokes instead of the expected laughs and chuckles. Forgetting about the filth for the moment, she turned her head to look at the demon next to her.

Mephisto was doubled over in pain, wheezing as he held his stomach. A miserable expression on his face, he shivered as he tried to form words. “It’s… It’s fine,” he choked, “I think I swallowed some of it..” Another fit of coughs seized him, rendering him temporarily defenseless as he shook. Minako could only look on as he tried to recover his composure, only for it to be ruined by things worse than coughing.

Minako opted to cover her ears and look away for a few minutes. She wondered how far inside of the building her parents were. Were they good at defeating homunculi? Is that why they never came home filthy?

Having recovered from his fit of sickness, Mephisto righted his hat and wiped his face off. “Up n'attem, Boss. We’re not done here just yet.” Minako nodded, dragging herself to her feet as Mephisto sprang into the air.

“Right… We haven’t seen my parents yet.” Wiping off the goop to the best of her ability, she pointed ahead. “Lets get moving, Mephisto.” And move they did, though it was with much less speed than previously. Gone was the joking and laughing from their journey, leaving them with a dull silence, occasionally punctuated by far away sounds of battle. Thankfully for them, no monsters appeared, allowing them to take their time. So take their time they did, walking and floating at a relaxed pace, respectively.

The silence was finally broken by a fit of hacking coughs, followed by the characteristic THUD of someone falling onto a tile floor. Whipping around so swiftly that her hair stuck to her face, Minako turned to find that Mephisto had dropped out of the air. “You all right, buddy?” she asked, pushing her hair out of her eyes.

She was met with a worrying silence, making her fear for the worst. Minako began to step forwards when she was unceremoniously grabbed from behind. She screamed.

## –Ch.11–

“Not so loud, child! It’s only me!”

Relief washed over Minako as she recognized the voice. “Mary, you scared the shit out of me!” she declared, looking back to the Assassin class Servant. “But there’s more important things than that!” She returned her concerned stare back to Mephisto, who had not moved from where he had fallen. She warily approached, hoping this was just a particularly mean joke on Mephisto’s part.

Even as she bent down next to him and lightly shook his shoulder, he did not move. A feeling of dread rising in her stomach, she shook him a bit harder. “Hey, Mephisto, this isn’t funny! Get up!” With Serenity’s advice and watchful gaze, Minako attempted to shift Mephisto onto his back. Having still not produced a response, Minako went ahead and nearly hurt herself trying to lift Mephisto.

Only with Serenity’s help was Minako was able to get Mephisto off the ground and onto her back. Having finally managed this, Serenity wiped her gloves off. “I saw what happened, by the by,” she stated simply, “And you both performed quite well.”

“You saw what happened?!” Minako echoed incredulously, “Why didn’t you help us??”

“You seemed to be doing just fine. My mistake.” Serenity bowed her head to Minako, before straightening back up. “If I had known this would happen, I’d have interrupted far earlier.” Accepting this answer, Minako irritably grumbled something about spreading goo in Serenity’s hair the next time she did this. Serenity rolled her eyes and opted not to comment, instead directing Minako in the correct direction. She would come with, of course- She was not going to let Minako get attacked a second time.

As they walked, Minako slowly became aware of her load becoming gradually easier to carry. It did not truly come to her attention, though, until she felt something on the top of her head. Stopping to glance up, she was met with a tired gaze from Mephisto, who had taken most of his weight off of Minako’s back. Intending to answer an unspoken question, he groaned and buried his face into her hair. He still seemed to be downright awful, and was apparently content with being pulled along through the air. There he stayed for the remainder of the trip.

## –Ch.12–

This wasn’t what Mephisto had thought would happen. He knew how Antimony could affect homunculi, but not like that. Was it death-based alchemy in action that had caused them to melt? Thinking about it only worsened his headache, prompting him to squeeze his eyes shut and frown.

He hadn’t thought Antimony would affect him as much as it did, either. There was much he wanted to say, but could not- His throat burned and ached like it never before had. Even swallowing had become a chore, his throat feeling like it was being squeezed by an outside source. His stomach was not fairing any better, with it cramping if he so much as shifted his weight. If he dared to shift it even a bit more, his vision would spin and pulse while becoming lightheaded.

He tore himself from his thoughts to tug on his shirt collar and bowtie. Had it gotten hotter? He felt like he was going to sweat to death. That, or his clothes were going to be soaked with it. Being covered in goo didn’t help, probably- It covered pores and such. Minako seemed fine, though, so maybe it was just him.

Trying his best to ignore his suffering, he started listening to Minako and Serenity talk. They were talking about how Minako’s parents fight. Zone out. They were talking about Daichi’s preferred fighting style. Zone out. They were talking about Guoko’s preferred fighting style. Who’s? With context clues, Mephisto was able to figure out that it was Minako’s mother they were talking about. Having figured this out, he relaxed. Zone out. The sounds of battle were far clearer now, and far closer than they had been. A loud bang echoed through the hall, causing Mephisto to jump with his tails sticking straight up.

His heart racing, he stared down the hallway, expecting something to spring out. Upon turning his head to look at Serenity- Who had commented on the event- He quickly found himself becoming lightheaded, prompting him to shake his head. He was so focused on his own dizziness that he didn’t realize he was about to start coughing, until he actually did. He quickly covered his mouth, just in case.

He didn’t notice the red on his hands until his vision began to blur. He was dully aware of Minako talking to him, but he wasn’t quite sure what she was saying. How long had there been two of her? He mentioned this, or so he thought he did. He was not confident that he had actually spoken any words. He suddenly felt weak, particularly on his right side. The next things he was aware of were his eye twitching, and then the quickly approaching floor.

## –Ch.13–

“He is doing very poorly,” Serenity observed from her position next to the collapsed demon, her gloved hand over his chest. “We’ll have to cut through the chaos to get you two out of here. It will be the fastest.”

“Cut through the….” Minako echoed, her brow furrowing. Wouldn’t doing that just get them in more trouble? Relaying this, she frowned. She wanted to complain about how this mission was going, but she’d kind of expected it. Kind of, meaning she knew someone would get hurt. Just not him. She’d been expecting to be injured, but now? Now she just felt awful.

Easily hoisting Mephisto onto her back, Serenity resumed walking. Minako quickly caught up and grabbed ahold onto the nearest thing, which happened to be one of Mephisto’s tails. It hung limply in her hand, not moving outside of the occasional twitch. She held it carefully, like she were holding his hand. It was… strangely comforting, she found.

Not as comforting was the stray energy blast that zoomed past them, blowing apart a wall behind them. Flinching and tightening her grip as homunculi looked in their direction, Minako squeaked. “You want us to cut through this?!”

“Perhaps it is not a good plan,” Serenity mused, seemingly unfazed by having been a few inches from death. “But it seems to be our only option. They see us, too.” She pointed to the other end of the battlefield, where Daichi was able to be seen standing upon a crate. He looked away and wildly motioned to someone out of sight, pointing back to the battlefield. Before anyone could move, a multicolored beam blasted straight through the enemy forces, creating a path for our heroes.

“Now!” Serenity announced, taking off at a breakneck pace down the new path. Minako could barely keep up, only doing so because she was still holding onto Mephisto’s tail- Or more accurately, pulling on, prompting Mephisto to whine in pain.

Even from her position in the back, Minako could see their path becoming blocked by more homunculi of white. “We’re trapped!” she yelled to the front, her grasp on the tails loosening. She didn’t think she could hold on much longer.

As if in response, Serenity went to take a leap over the homunculi. Reaching forward, Minako tried to grab onto Mephisto’s cape and spectacuarly failed, falling forwards with some fluff in her hands as Serenity and Mephisto disappeared from view. Quickly sitting up, the nearby homunculi turned to her, giving off a hostile aura.

“This is not happening!” she groaned, slowly standing up and eyeing the surrounding army. They began to approach, gooey hands outstretched towards her, and she wildly looked around for an exit. She couldn’t bash one out of the way- She’d only get stuck! There was only one thing she could think to do…

## –Ch.14–

She dropped to the ground, starting to crawl between their legs and through the muck. This seemed to confuse the homunculi, leaving them to reach after her. She could swear she heard yelling further ahead..

“Eyes, sides!~♫”

Was that Mephisto? She wasn’t sure, but the homunculi seemed to find him far more interesting. As they turned their attention to him, she picked up the pace.

“Knees, spine!~♪”

She could see the shadows of… Something overhead, but she had no idea what it was. Something long. There was a set of distinct splooshy sounds as it landed on many homunculi at once. She could see light ahead. She was close!

“Complete!~~♫”

As Minako finally escaped the horde, many solid and notably human hands grabbed her, pulling her away. She did not fight this, only looking up at Mephisto.

Mephisto, who was high up in the air and holding a long string of bombs, most of which were laying on the homunculi. A fit of giggles struck him as he threw his end of the rope into the crowd. Minako’s breath caught in her throat as she realized what he was doing; Casting his Noble Phantasm!

“Commence explosion! Ticktock bomb!!” His giggles turned to outright laughter as the bombs went off, sending homunculi bits and oozes everywhere. As his laughter subsided, he looked down to try and find his Master. Easily spotting Minako, he tiredly pumped a fist into the air with the best “Woo-hoo!” he could muster. As Minako watched, he began to sag in midair.

With a twitch and a shudder, Mephisto suddenly plummeted out of the air. Minako gave a shout and tried to move towards him, but her path was blocked by others and she could no longer see him. “No, no, no! Mephisto!” She tore out of her family’s grasp, pushing people out of the way to reach her Servant.

When she did manage to reach him, she found the wildly thrashing shell of her Servant, uncontrollably convulsing on the hard tile floor. Her eyes wide, she wanted to look away, but concern overruled her discomfort. She tried to approach, but a crowd of hands pulled her away. She wasn’t allowed near him, it seemed, until he calmed. She warily kneeled down next to him once permitted, earning a tired glance from Mephisto.

“Bits of me keep….” he tilted a hand side-to-side before dropping it back to his side. Her gaze was intended to meet his face, but she noticed something first; A dark, circular mark on his neck. Leaning forward to investigate, she observed that it was similar to an alchemy circle.

“Mephisto,” she quietly asked, “Are you a homunculus, too?”

“Ooh, that’s right. I told you I wasn’t a demon, didn’t I..?” He softly chuckled. He then began to painfully cough, sending him into a fetal position that shook with every cough. This particular fit of coughs lasted longer than any others had, worrying Minako more than she already was.

Once he had finally caught his breath, she carefully put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re….” she trailed off, not wanting to entertain the notion. “You’re not going to die, are you?”

Mephisto began to laugh, the exact opposite of what she had been expecting. “Ehe, ehehe, hehehe. Death is not the end..” Cough, cough. “Death is not… annihilation.” Cough, hack, hack, wheeze. “Death is-”

With a sudden wheeze he was gasping for air, ending his philosophical statement early. Minako was pulled away yet again, her outstretched hand doing nothing to keep Mephisto in her sight. When she continued to struggle, she was picked up and slung over someone’s shoulder.

“Dad!!” she yelled, clearly annoyed, but he ignored her. Daichi even ignored the angry pounding of fists on his back- He was set on what he was doing, and wasn’t stopping for anyone. Only when they were outside was she let down and she could no longer get to Mephisto- The door had been closed behind them.

## –Ch.15–

Minako continued grumbling and wiping herself off, even as all of the adults and their Servants got together to discuss the mission status. It’d been over twenty minutes since she’d been able to see her own Servant, and that was far too long. He was HER Servant, so she deserved to know what was going on more than anyone else. She stopped to listen, but heard nothing of interest. “Saint Quartz,” “Mana Cubes,” “QP.” None of these words meant anything to her.

Slinging the rag over her shoulder, she decided to try and peek in the window again. Nothing. Blinking and looking again confirmed it- There was no one in sight. What she DID see was footprints leading to the back of the room. Wondering what she could get away with, she looked back to the adults. They seemed to be absorbed in their own discussion, freeing her to sneak around the corner of the factory.

She was gonna get in so much trouble for this.

She sprinted towards the back end of the building, wanting to catch whoever was left at the exit. She was too tired to make it, though, and had to stumble to an emergency stop.

While she was panting and catching her breath, she heard voices ahead of herself. Forcing her body to move forward, she was eventually rewarded with a moments’ glimpse of Mephisto and Paracelsus. Paracelsus was carrying Mephisto in his arms, standing on some kind of platform. She’d seen these before, but she’d never been allowed to touch one– It was a teleporter!

Paracelsus stepped onto it and both Servants vanished with a flash. No one else followed them, so Minako approached the machine. It was a circular disc, with a glowing blue light that rose a few feet up.

She was gonna get in even more trouble for this.

Minako looked around again, to make sure no one was around. Spotting no one, she jumped onto the disc. A mechanical voice quickly announced the destination, and she squinted. What had it said? Chall-dia??

Before she could really be sure, she was gone.

## –Ch.16–

Minako stumbled out of the red teleport zone, her eyes needing to adjust to the bright lights. “Welcome to Chaldea, new recruit,” stated the mechanical voice, before going quiet. She barely paid this any mind- What was ahead of her was much more interesting.

Tons of Servants! And their Masters! It was like a haven for them, with many of them going in and out of many different hallways. It was quickly overwhelming for poor Minako. She had no idea where Paracelsus had went! She decided to start walking down the westmost hallway- That’d get her somewhere!

It did not. She managed to loop back into this main room seven times, now eight. Visibly frustrated, she turned around and walked back down the hall she came from, hoping for a miracle.

She managed to finally find the medical wing about ten minutes later. Dropping into a seat, she let her legs get a break while she watched people rush past her. It seemed that it was busy right now. Frowning, she considered getting up and going to look for Mephisto now. She didn’t want to stand up, but she didn’t want to leave him alone either. Nodding to herself and getting back up, she resolved to find him, no matter how long it took.

She quickly learned something important: She was too short to see into the door’s windows. Not letting this stop her, she tried to peek into every door she passed. Most rooms, she could not see anything. There was a curtain blocking her view, leaving unable to see all of the rooms’ contents. The few times she WAS able to see, she either had immediate regrets or there was nothing of interest. She never wanted to see anyone in a full body cast, and never wanted to again. Nor had she ever wanted to see a crowd of doctors around a hospital bed, surrounding a particularly unfortunate man.

Having apparently not learned her lesson about peeking into doors, she continued doing this as she went down the hall. Unknown to her, one of the doors was not actually closed. She learned this as she leaned her weight against it, pushing the door open. Surprised by the sudden weight shift, Minako nearly fell to the floor.

Quietly cursing herself, she turned her attention to the room. It was not empty as she had immediately assumed- Instead, there was a doctor taking a nap on the hospital bed. Narrowing her eyes as she noticed his familiar ginger hair, she cleared her throat. When this did not gain her any attention, she stormed over and punched his shoulder as hard as she could.

“Yow!”

## –Ch.17–

“Minako? Is that you?” The poor doctor was downright shocked, nearly jumping to his feet. “How did you even get here?!”

“It’s not important right now, Doc! You’re in charge, right? So help me find Mephisto!” She tried to give Roman one of her best angry glares, but it was met with only a confused smile and blank expression- The epitome of having no idea what was going on due to having just woken up. “He got poisoned and brought here, but I can’t find him at all, Doc! So help!”

Roman rubbed his eyes as he processed this information. “You didn’t just ask the front desk..?” He inquired, glancing towards her. “I didn’t SEE a front desk, Doc! This place is a maze in a labyrinth in a pain in the ass!” As he begun to laugh, Minako fumed. “It took me forever to even get this far! Can I get some string for this or something?!”

It took Roman at least five minutes to stop laughing. Another three were spent explaining that the Chaldea staff had already tried the string theory- It only annoyed Asterios (the Minotaur) and the strings would get all tangled. People tripped, the stairs were dangerous, and Asterios took weeks to calm down.

“How did you get here anyway, Minako?” Roman now asked, “Did your parents bring you finally?”

She shook her head, a guilty smile on her face. “I followed Para-Para when no one was looking. Everyone wants me to be independent, so I am!” She observed as Roman’s face went through multiple emotions in a short time- Namely horror, worry, and nervousness, culminating in an awkward smile. “Your parents are going to downright destroy me, you know.” He laughed again, noticeably fearful of his life. “Come on, lets go find him.”

“Finally!!” She turned to leave the room, but stopped to look back at him. “You’re coming, right?” She watched as he passed, then started to follow him. If she had to walk for another ten minutes, she was going to scream.

She was not given the opportunity to scream. Within five minutes, Roman was able to locate where Mephisto was being held, as well as where Paracelsus was waiting. Paracelsus raised his eyebrows when he saw Minako, who smiled at him. It was clear she was not actually happy, though.

“You big jerk, Para-Para! You could have waited like, ten seconds, so I could keep up with you!” His facial expression unchanging, he responded “You should have said something. I would have gladly waited.” She huffed, folding her arms. Deciding enough was enough, she cut to the chase and asked Paracelsus how Mephisto was doing.

“He’s doing well,” came the reply, “It seems the change of location was all he needed to recover…” Before Paracelsus could continue, Minako was already trying to peek into the door. Shaking his head, he lightly pushed her away. “I can’t allow you in just yet.”

“What?! Why??” Minako nearly shouted, arms firmly at her sides. She appeared to be pouting, and she absolutely was.

“Because you’re still filthy. We can’t just let you in while you’re still covered in poison. Here, let me give you directions to get clean clothes.”

## –Ch.18–

By the time shopping had reached its conclusion, Minako wanted to be done with walking. Unfortunately for her, she still had to return to Paracelsus- And return his wallet, which he kindly let her use. Carrying a plastic bag filled with her dirty clothes at her side, she trudged back down the white hallways that she had already grown tired of.

Upon her return, she gave Paracelsus his wallet and the plastic bag. Then and only then was she finally allowed in to see Mephisto.

Much to her surprise, he was sitting on the bed rail wearing gray sweats, along with a smile on his face. “There! You did come for me, Master!”

She was rushed and grabbed by Mephisto, who held her up in a tight bearhug. With a delighted yell did she return the hug, overjoyed that her Servant was all right. As Mephisto gently placed her down, she noticed his tails slowly swaying side to side. “I didn’t think you were going to come, honestly. Haha, hahaha! That’s funny, right?”

“Not at all, you horned bully! I’ve been walking around for over an hour in this white hellhole!” She groaned just thinking about it, trying to ignore the growing soreness in her legs. “At least let me sit down before we do anything!”

Upon comfortably seating herself on the hospital bed, she turned to Mephisto with an eyebrow raised. “How did you heal so fast, anyway? You looked…” she trailed off, frowning. She didn’t want to remember that scene for the rest of her life, which pretty much guaranteed that it would never go away.

“Homunculus stuff!” was his immediate response, coupled with a shrug. When this clearly wasn’t enough information for his Master, he relented. “Homunculi are powered by mana! There wasn’t all that much there, but here? Hooo-wee! Hehehe!” Having decided that was definitely enough information for Minako, he sat down next to her prior to planting his face into a pillow. As his eyes are on the front of his face- which was firmly rooted to the aforementioned pillow- he could not see Minako appearing to be confused. Only when he turned his head did he notice this detail. “What’s up, Master?”

She was silent for a minute or so, carefully considering her words. “I… I want you to answer something,” she said, a twinge of apprehension in her voice. “Shoot!” Mephisto gladly replied, completely ignoring her tone.

“From what I’ve have been taught about homunculi, they don’t die easily, right?”

Mephisto paused, his smile faltering. “Well, yes, that’s indeed true. The only guarantee is to drain the planet of mana. Why…?”

“You’re a Heroic Spirit,” Minako observed, to which Mephisto began cackling. “No idea where they got HEROIC from, hehe!” Once he settled down, she continued. “But most Servants died before they became a Servant, right? So how did you…?”

Without a word, Mephisto turned away from her, his shoulders raised and tails stiffly pointing out. Crossed arms and legs, he turned back only to grab his tails and pull them closer to himself. “I don’t like the dead,” he stated simply, "Especially revenge-fueled ones that think they were killed intentionally.“ With that, he fell silent.

The uncomfortable silence lingered in the air for a bit, kind of like a thick cloud of smoke that no one liked. Minako, unable to find her words, quietly leaned back and put a hand on his shoulder. A wordless apology.

Watching this from outside the room were Paracelsus and Roman, deep in their own quiet discussion. "Like I said, Mephistopheles isn’t really good on his own,” Roman stated, absently twirling his finger in his hair. “The data says he’s prone to bouts of boredom and those get… Destructive.” Roman put extra emphasis on the latter part, grimacing as if he was recalling something awful. “Eugh. It took weeks to clean up all of the paint.”

“So he needs adult supervision,” Paracelsus muttered, “Or at least a partner in crime?”

Roman nodded. “Definitely needs supervision. His last stunt involved a stunning lack of it! Also starring in it were at least two gallons of paint and unlimited bombs.” He laughed, but it came out in a pained sort of way. Perhaps it would be best to let sleeping dogs lie.

## –Ch.19–

It was not best to let sleeping homunculi lie, though. Mephisto was rudely awakened by a soft thing hitting his face repeatedly. Cracking an eye open, his newfound sense of vision informed him that it was Ticking-kun softly and playfully biting his nose.

“Hey, Ticking-kun,” Mephisto drowsily mumbled, patting the toy(?) spider as he pushed himself off the pillows. They happily chattered as he rubbed his eyes, seating themselves in his lap. As Mephisto gently pet Ticking-kun, he looked around. This certainly wasn’t the hospital room he’d fallen asleep in. Now that he thought about it, he’d left Ticking-kun at..

“Hoooome now!” Minako announced, pushing the door open with a smile on her face, “Oh, you’re finally up! Good afternoon, Mephisto!” Mephisto could only nod in response, feeling a yawn coming on. Under his hand, Ticking-kun had gone still, warily eyeing Minako. She didn’t seem to notice, focusing her attention on her Servant. “I was going to bring you with for food shopping, but you really didn’t wanna get up, huh?”

“I..? I guess not!” he shrugged, not at all worried. Glancing down at Ticking-kun, he pat them again. “Don’t be like this, you honk. It’s safe.” At his words, Ticking-kun sprung back to life, climbing onto his arm and chittering.

“Ticking-kun is alive??” Minako nearly shouted in surprise, quickly approaching to get a better look. “You told me it was a toy!”

Mephisto began to laugh, his tails shaking more than his chest. “I lied! What kind of demon homunculus would I be if I wasn’t able to lie, Master?” Ticking-kun chuckled along with Mephisto, nearly losing their grip on his arm and falling. His giggles subsiding, Mephisto reached his hand out towards Minako. Eyes bright with wonder, she took his hand in her own. She stared, knowing he was going to speak up. This turned out to be correct, as a genuine smile stretched across his face.

“I’ve decided, Master Minako!!” he announced while shaking her hand vigorously, “I, Mephistopheles, will accompany you in interesting and amusing ways, so long as you stay the way you are! Let’s go on a journey to surprise the world!” Springing himself off of the bed, he wrapped his other arm around Minako and put his head on her shoulder. “Even if we don’t change a nation, I’ve grown to like you quite a bit! I hope you don’t mind me sticking around, ehehe!”

“Why would I mind? Of course you can stay, Mephisto! Ooh, let me get you something to eat!” That being said, Minako practically bounced out of the room. Chuckling a little, Mephisto started to follow her when he became acutely aware of someone watching him. How odd.

Warily glancing around, his eyebrows rose as he caught sight of you. “Oooh, there you are. I got a bit worried that it ended already.” He grinned, folding his arms. “Before it does, though. This is my parting gift to you.” Cocking a fingergun, he points it towards you. “Three, two, one, bang! The world has ended. There’s nothing else here for you to see! Goodbye now!”

## –EXTRA: Ch.20–

“Well done, Rice-kun! That should be all of the wyverns in that singularity. You and your servants deserve a break after all your hard work! … And no, I don’t mean Arjuna, Karna and Robin are allowed to riddle the halls with arrows again! We’re not repeating that! But alright, activating the return rayshift…”

Dr. Romani Archaman sighed, wiping his brow as he did. Although he had no part in combat, watching Servants battle always made him feel exhausted for whatever reason. “That’s the end of the mission, folks. It’s time for my third lunch break!” Some of the staff laughed, one going as far as to announce “Just say you’re gonna be playing hooky, Roman! We all know!” Roman sheepishly grinned and shrugged. They knew him too well.

As he headed into the hallway, he couldn’t help but hear hushed muttering behind him. “Ars Nova more like Ars No Work,” one staff member mumbled, before being quickly shushed by a few others. “Wait until he’s out of earshot before you make those jokes!” hissed another. But it was too late, and Roman had heard it before the door closed.

“Arse…? Were they calling me an arse?” he wondered, deftly dodging a passing Berserker. Deciding not to worry about it, he continued on his merry way. Mid-deciding if he would pick up sweets or not, his mind took a right turn at ChocoStars and a u-turn at Cookie Novas to resume wondering what the hell his fellow staffmates had been referring to.

This led him to realize something- Despite having been in charge of Grand Order missions for a long time, he couldn’t for the life of him remember what happened after Tiamat was defeated. He’d known about this hole in his memory, yes, but he’d never actively questioned it either. He decided he would ask about it later that day, along with…

… What had he been thinking about? Drat. Uh… Right, ChocoStars and Cookie Novas. How was that relevant to his memory? He wasn’t sure, but something in there made him think about what the staff had said. Arse No Work.. No, no, before that. Drat, drat. Arse Nova? That wasn’t right. Drat, drat, drat. He knew what he was trying to recall, but the proper words weren’t coming to mind. Arr Nova? No. Ark Nova? No, this wasn’t the Ark of the Covenant. Arsenic? That’s way off base. Back it up, buddy.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he became a spitting image of The Thinker. Forgetting something so thoroughly- and so quickly- was notably odd. Arse was close, right? Ars? … That didn’t seem right. Ars was used to mean shepard, wasn’t it? A quick look on his laptop told him otherwise. It had multiple definitions, and shepard was one of them. Other uses of it included meaning “cuckold”, “bastard”, “pimp”, or “low class young man”. What a varied word.

Wait, he was going off topic. Was the word ars? Ars Nova…?

… …

“The Time of Birth has Come, He is the One who Masters All. The Time of Crowning has Come, He is the One who Begins All. And ― The Time of Parting has Come, He is the One who Lets Go of The World. Ars Nova.”

… …

Roman’s eyes snapped open as he became suddenly aware of the cold tile floor he was lying on. What had just happened? Slowly sitting up, he wrung his hands and frowned. His hands felt oddly numb. Had he been laying on them strangely? And why was he on the floor to begin with? He definitely didn’t do it on purpose. As he waited for the feeling to return in his hands, he tried to figure out what it was he’d just heard. He’d definitely heard that, it wasn’t a dream of some sort. But it wasn’t familiar at all, so why would he know it? He resolved to write down the incident as soon as he could so he would not forget it again.

After that, maybe he’d forgo a snack today and just take a nap. The sudden collapse had left him dead tired and unwanting to move very far. That, and he’d lost his appetite. He even considered calling in as Dead to avoid working for the rest of the day… But for some reason, that didn’t seem like a good idea. Maybe he’d call in as Busy. Yeah, that would work. Getting back onto the bed, he pulled the laptop onto his lap. The faster he wrote this down, the faster he could sleep. The faster he could sleep, the faster he could die- Wait, what?

Roman promptly decided to definitely not call in as Dead today.


	2. Fate Mink meets Dr. and Mr., and the Hans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> oops new servants and not much else

## –Ch.1–

It was hard to concentrate- The doctor felt as if he was fading in and out of consciousness more and more as time went on. By now, the only thing keeping him from going under completely was the agonized screams of his other aspect. “Let me out,” they howled, “I’ll do something about this shit! We’re not dying again, Jekyll! Let! Me! Out!” They banged on the barrier keeping them apart, causing Jekyll to violently shudder.

“No, Hyde,” Jekyll whispered, just quietly enough to not catch the attention of any nearby doctors. “What can you possibly do..? Our Master is dying.” Jekyll forced himself back into a sitting position, ignoring Hyde’s growls of protest in favor of trying to hear the doctors’ chatter. Most of it was idle chat, many of them having stopped putting in full effort. As Jekyll frowned, Hyde broke out into hysterical laughter. “They’re doing nothing of use! Let me show them a good time, idiot!”

Again, Hyde’s suggestions were ignored. Shaking his head, Jekyll now eyed an empty cup near his hand. He wanted a drink, but didn’t trust his body to fetch one. With a sigh did he sink back down in his seat, eyes watering as he yawned. Maybe he could close his eyes for a few minutes…

Hearing a shout, Jekyll shot back to alertness and looked around as he adjusted his glasses. Strangely enough, nothing seemed to be very different, The doctors were still surrounding his Master’s bed and mumbling to each other. About to give up again, he spotted the cup, no longer empty. He reached for it as if it was a beacon of life, paying no mind to its contents as he greedily chugged it down.

Jekyll had about a moment’s silence before Hyde began to cackle madly again. “You idiot! You absolute idiot!” he cried out, banging his fist on the barrier as he laughed. “You fell for it again! Now get out of my way! My turn, my turn!” Jekyll let his eyes drift down to the table, finally noticing the empty vial that had not been there before. His vial.

“Hyde…” Jekyll groaned, putting a hand to his head, “You’re so… Desperate.” He had more to say, but was interrupted by the barrier shattering, causing Jekyll to feel a slicing pain behind his eyes. Suddenly struck by a second surge of agony, Jekyll lost control of his body, his eyes rolling back as his body slumped. He could only see the ceiling lights before his world went white and everything vanished.

## –Ch.2–

“See why I hate this place, Mephisto?” Minako asked, regaining her Servant’s attention. “It’s so bright and mazey. How do you find your way around here?” She frowned, looking back down at the crumpled map in her hands. “Weren’t we over by the workshop twice already?” Not getting an answer, she looked back up to find Mephisto leaning against a wall. Having her attention, he turned and pressed his face against the wall.

“It’s so white that my face blends in!” Mephisto announced with a playful smile. Seeing his Master not laugh, his shoulders sagged as he turned back around. “Are you that annoyed? It’s only been…” He trailed off, miming the action of checking a watch. “How long have we been at this?”

“Way too long!” Minako snapped back, causing Mephisto to jump a bit. “I’m lost! It’s your turn to lead!” Mephisto found the map shoved into his hands as suddenly as his cape was pulled. He raised his eyebrows, tugging his cape out of Minako’s hands. “If I’m leading, you can follow normally! None of this choking me stuff.” Without giving Minako the time to concoct a clever reply, he strode away, forcing Minako to chase after him.

He was kind enough to stop and wait at the end of the hall, allowing Minako to catch her breath. “That’s.. That’s kind of kinky, Mephisto,” she panted, giving him a slight smirk. He looked horrified in response, hastily grabbing the brim of his hat to pull over his face. “Master, that’s filthy! You might give someone ideas!” Minako, pleased that she had flustered her Servant, resumed holding onto his cape. “It sure was. Now get going, before I kick you down the hall!”

Mephisto raised his eyebrows along with his brim. “You couldn’t fight your way out of an alligator baggie,” he teased, lightly booping Minako’s nose. “What’s that supposed to mean?!” she demanded, only to be responded to with laughter. “No, really! What does that mean?? What’s an alligator bag?” She tugged on his cape, making Mephisto’s tails shoot straight up.

“Again with that!” he complained, taking his cape back for a second time. “And what do you think? It’s a bag! For crocodiles!” This time, one of his tails were pulled, making him yelp in pain and her release the tail. “Now I’m not telling you! Bully!”

They began to continue on their way, laughing and teasing each other. Minako hoped they would find the summoning room at some point today, not wanting to be lost in Chaldea for all of eternity. Mephisto, on the other hand, was perfectly okay with taking his time. This was particularly entertaining, even if he got the shit end of the stick because of it.

Rather suddenly, there was a blond missile that ran out of a branched off hall, skidding to a stop before blasting in their direction- Unfortunately, Minako was directly in their way and both of them ended up on the floor.

## –Ch.3–

Mephisto, rather than helping his Master up, stared at the newcomer that was slowly getting off of Minako and profusely apologizing. It wasn’t that he recognized them or anything- It was the golden sparkles they were starting to emit that worried him. Minako noticed this as well and shot Mephisto a questioning look as she got back to her feet. Before Mephisto could answer, the newcomer dropped back to their knees in apparent exhaustion, a tired groan escaping them.

Leaning close to Minako, Mephisto opted to lower his voice. “He’s dying,” he simply stated, “His Master probably died.” Realizing there was no time to waste, Minako bent down to the dying Servant. “Can’t something be done for you?” she asked, reaching out to put her hand on his shoulder. “Like, can’t I take you in..?”

“Please!” choked out the newcomer, looking up at Minako over his glasses, “We don’t want to die here…”

Nodding, Minako took his hands in hers. No further words were needed- Both parties were in full agreement. Within moments, a new Master-Servant bond was created, saving him from certain death. As he panted and readjusted his glasses, Minako folded her arms. “I didn’t catch a name, buddy. I’m Minako. What’s yours?”

“My name’s Jekyll. Hyde’s… someone else. He is the one that crashed into you, I suppose. I do apologize.” He looked elsewhere, already expecting some kind of insult. None came. Returning his gaze to his new Master, he found that she was staring at him in wonder. Over her shoulder, Mephisto seemed to be equally as curious, his head tilting as he looked Jekyll over.

“So you’re the doctor Jekyll..?” Mephisto now asked, resting his head on Minako’s shoulder. Upon receiving an affirmative, Minako chimed in to ask questions as well. “Doctor and chemist, right? Ooh, does that mean you’re a healer?” She looked so excited, Jekyll couldn’t help but let his guard down.

“Doctor, yes. Chemist, unofficially. Healer, not at all.” He wondered why she had asked. Would he be seen as less valuable if he was honest..? He hoped not. He’d only had two summoners that treated him well- And both had…

He frowned and looked back up at his new Master as she began to speak again. “Two outta three ain’t bad!” she announced, proud of herself. “Anyways, welcome to the team, Jekyll!” She leaned down to offer her hand to him again, this time to assist him in standing up. It took him a moment to realize that was what she wanted, only registering it when she tried to pull him back up. With Mephisto’s help, Jekyll was back up in no time, though he did not feel too well.

Grinning, Mephisto leaned back in the air and put his hands behind his head. “Hehe, all that walking and you don’t even need to summon!” he quipped, earning him a frown from Minako. “We’re finding that room, Mephisto!” she shot back, stamping a foot for emphasis. While this was all very amusing, Jekyll was afraid that if he took even the smallest step, his legs would give out. Deciding that staying put was the best option, he tried to get his first real good look at Mephisto. How many tails were swaying under him, two? Five?

This prompted Jekyll to squint. Were there actually more than two, or was his vision beginning to fail him? Unsure, he tore his eyes away from the multi-colored mess of a demon to look at Minako, who seemed to notice him staring. “You okay, bud?”

Jekyll shook his head, then immediately regretted the action. That slight bit of movement made him dizzy, and he nearly fell back to his knees. “I’m not feeling so well,” he muttered, “May I beg for assistance?”

His question was answered when Mephisto parked himself in front of Jekyll and bent down. “Hop on, Doktor,” he insisted, pulling his cape out of the way. As Jekyll got on his back, he took a moment to count how many tails there actually were. There were three, not two or five. The mystery was finally solved.

Letting his head drop onto Mephisto’s shoulder, Jekyll tiredly wondered if he could get away with a short nap. Hearing nothing from the other side of the barrier, it seemed that Hyde had the same idea. Closing his eyes, he let Mephisto’s mid-air bobbing rock him to sleep.

## –Ch.4–

After another half an hour, which was remarkably quiet on Mephisto’s end, Minako finally took a seat in the middle of an intersection of hallways with a pout. “I quit walking forever!” she announced, “Mephisto, carry me too!”

Her demand being ignored, Mephisto went straight past her and pointed down the hallway. “The sign! Right there! Is for summons, Master! Walk yourself!” Realizing he was telling the truth, she dragged herself back to her feet and followed him, albeit unhappily. After this, she was getting a segway or a full map of Chaldea. Maybe both.

Going to push the door, Minako realized a second too late that this door opened automatically, leading to her stumbling over herself and falling to the floor. “Careful, Master!~” Mephisto quipped, floating past her yet again, “That door doesn’t need pushing!” Met with Minako’s obvious frustration, the clown chuckled and stopped, waiting for her to enter.

She already knew what a summoning station looked like, but this one was particularly large, with ten different platforms. She beelined for the summoning station and stopped, staring blankly at the console. “Please scan your Points card to use this station?” She read, visibly confused. “Mephisto, we didn’t get a card, right…?”

“Nope! We wasted time, and look,” he exclaimed, shifting his weight to not drop Jekyll, “You don’t even need to summon, like I said! You got Herr Doktor here!” An uncomfortable silence proceeded to fill the room as Minako glared daggers at Mephisto. She hoped he wasn’t right, or she’d be very, VERY angry. At multiple people, in fact.

Before she could actively complain, though, they were able to hear a discussion from nearby. Exchanging glances, Mephisto and Minako silently agreed to listen to it. The apparent first rule of Mastery is to never argue when you could potentially be eavesdropping on someone else’s conversation.

“Isn’t that the alternative to smoking or something..?” the first voice wondered aloud. The duo easily recognized his voice as Roman’s. “I hear it’s healthier, but I don’t actually know.” Moments later, a second voice responded by stating “Son, that’s vaping. I asked what this so called "Vaporwave” was.“

As Roman entered, Minako interrupted the conversation by yelling. "Doc, it took like two hours just to get here! I already got a Servant on the way! Can I leave now??”

Closing the door on his green-haired conversation partner, Roman’s gaze locked onto the Jekyll on Mephisto’s back. “So that’s where Dr. Jekyll went? That solves a lot of questions in one shot… Good job with that, but you still have to summon while I explain to the medical department what just happened.” Minako groaned loudly as Mephisto stifled laughter.

**–Ch. 5–**  
As she had just received her Master ID and points card, Minako returned to the console and stuck it into the slot. Mephisto, having given Jekyll to Roman, watched over her shoulder with curiosity as the screen lit up with new options- “One summon- 200 FP. Ten summon- 2000 FP. Cancel.” Without hesitation she pressed the first option, turning on the summoning machine. Glowing and flashing, three rings materialized before producing a card. Bronze Caster.

A final flash, and a human form replaced the card. Stepping into view, they appeared to be a finely dressed child. With a bow, he politely introduced himself with a voice much deeper than expected. “Third-rate servant, Anderson,” he stated, “Just throw me in the corner of a bookshelf.”

Minako bowed her head to Andersen. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir! My name is Minako, and-”

“You are my Master,” Andersen finished, looking her over. “I see you are well versed in your authors and stories. No words are needed for me to understand that.” Deciding Minako was apparently uninteresting, he shifted his gaze to Mephisto.

“You look like a runaway juggalo that got so lost they ended up on the seventh layer of hell, and act like it too. Don’t grin at me, you miserable sack of shit, I see that possessive gleam in your eyes. Learn to share with this poor, unfortunate writer.”

Andersen did not drop eye contact once he was finished speaking, even as he stepped off of the platform. Mephisto didn’t seem to care much, but Andersen narrowed his eyes. Perhaps he’d noticed something Minako had not. She raised a finger, about to ask why Andersen was so observant when he said “My skill is Human Observation. I am a child in appearance as I was most observant as a child, I presume. Do not ask.”

“I’m gonna ask!” Mephisto chimed in, his grin widening. “Why are you a child? You’re very cute and nonthreatening!” Seeing Andersen frown, he continued speaking. “Maybe an adult you was too edgy for the Throne! So instead, we get a little fluffball that likes using big words! Hehehe!”

“You’re an evil-aligned Servant that tends to think of his own amusement before any other matters and you probably have abandonment issues!” Andersen snapped back, “No matter what age you would be summoned at, you would still be downright awful!” As Mephisto was stunned into silence, Andersen seemed to be pleased with himself. “Now that you’ve stopped talking, I need a freaking drink. I don’t think I can handle living with this. It’s too much for my cold, dark heart.”

## –Ch.6–

Roman entered to an uncomfortable silence. Andersen had taken a seat on the cool tile floor to write in a small book, while Mephisto was whispering to Minako with a frown on his face. Roman almost didn’t want to say anything- Thankfully, he did not have to, as Jekyll entered behind him and cleared his throat, earning everyone’s attention.

“Now that I feel much better, I have many thanks to give. Thank you, Minako.” Minako smiled and gave him a thumbs up as a reply. Jekyll shifted his gaze to Mephisto and nodded. “You, too. It doesn’t feel right saying it, but thank you for your help, Mephisto.”

“You’re welcome and all that, but.. What’s that supposed to mean?” Mephisto asked, rolling onto his stomach in midair, his tails perking up for the first time since Andersen’s insult festival. He looked genuinely curious as Jekyll scratched his head, seeming unsure himself.

“I’m not quite sure,” Jekyll stated with a frown, “Have we met before? I do not think we have.” With a giggle and a shrug came Mephisto’s response. “I don’t believe so, Doktor, but I can understand the discomfort! You just said my name and ‘thank you’ in the same sentence! That’s like thanking Satan, or a jerk!” He broke into another fit of giggles upon considering the very image of someone thanking the devil himself.

Meanwhile, Andersen was still writing with a determined expression upon his face, stopping only when Mephisto became too much of a distraction. “Do shut up, you clown school dropout! Some of us are trying to work here! There are no vacation hours for a writer, much less breaks and free time!” That being said, he went straight back to work as he was rewarded for a second time with Mephisto’s silence.

Still standing in the doorway, Roman almost felt bad having to kick them out of the room. They were getting along so well- except for the two Casters- that it felt wrong to interrupt.

Minako and her Servants were kicked out by other Chaldea staff members within ten minutes. As they all went past, Roman could only offer an apologetic shrug. He’d tried, at least. No one could argue that, he hoped. He also hoped that Minako would get rest- Obtaining two Servants in one day is hellish for one’s mana.

## –Ch.7–

It was dark. Particularly dark. Frowning, the homunculus put his hands out, feeling around for a wall or a light. He was quickly rewarded with an unlit lantern hanging from a hook, which he eagerly removed. Holding it out, he whispered a word laced with magic- “Ignis.”

The lantern was now lit, and with it, the room was lit up as well. Within moments of seeing the stone walls that surrounded him, Mephisto’s eyebrows furrowed. He recognized this place. Though it had been years since he had seen it last, it appeared to be in the exact condition it was left in. Scattered papers littered the tables and floors, various notes and diagrams among them. A spider’s web sat above the largest desk, outlined by the dust that had settled. In the center of it was a very tiny spider, barely noticeable without careful observation.

Pulling his attention away from the arachnid, Mephisto reached up to his hat with his free hand, only to find that his hat was not on his head. With Ticking-kun equally as absent, Mephisto irritably grunted and shifted his gaze to the open door. It was the only way out that seemed in any way inviting- The single window gave him a feeling of dread that he couldn’t seem to shake off. Perhaps it was because he couldn’t see anything beyond it, even if he stuck the lantern out of it.

Trusting his instincts, Mephisto stepped through the open door and into the hallway. This, too, was unchanged, even down to the wickless, unchanged candles and the clicking sound of his heels against the stony floor. While the familiarity was comforting to Mephisto, he remained wary. It was far too quiet for his liking. There had always been some kind of background noise, whether it be the rain pattering against the outside walls or even the delighted shouts of discovery.

As he traveled down the hallway, he realized that it seemed much longer than he recalled. How long had he been walking without seeing another door? He turned around and found that his path had become as dark as it was outside- Not even his lantern could light it up for him. Disturbed ever so slightly, he turned back around and was met with the sight of another door- One that hadn’t been there the first time. That was it- He was now officially uncomfortable. Wrapping his tails around his leg, he slowly reached his free hand out to the door. As if sensing his will, it opened before he could touch it. After taking another glance back to the approaching darkness, he quickly hurried into the entryway.

## –Ch.8–

The room he was now in, despite seeming dark from the outside, was very well lit, prompting him to put down his lantern. Before him was a new scene- Two people laughing. The one with the dark hair he faintly recognized, but was unsure why. The other was completely unidentifiable despite being in clear sight, though Mephisto was dimly aware that he should be watching this one.

Mephisto quickly gathered from remaining evidence that the stranger person had played a minor practical joke on the dark haired man, having placed a bowl of water on top of a doorway to land on the unfortunate person to open it, just under the moose-head plaque that had always been mounted there. Both people seemed fine with this turn of events, so Mephisto began to wonder why he was watching. Was this important in any way? As he turned to leave, there was loud crack. Whirling back around, he tried to find the source of the sound. The people present also seemed puzzled, looking around for it as well. With a second crack, the moose-head plaque fell, the hooks holding it having finally broken after years of rusting. Though the unidentifiable person tried to shout a warning, the dark-haired man was unable to move out of the way in time. With an even louder crack it impacted, sending itself and him to the floor.

Both Mephisto and the mysterious person were dumbfounded for a few moments, staring as the dark-haired man’s head started to bleed onto the floor. The silence was broken by the stranger abruptly breaking into hysterical laughter, tears comically springing from their eyes. They tried to speak, but they choked on their own words and had another fit of laughter. Mephisto leaned forward a little, as if it would help him understand. He couldn’t make out what they were trying to say- Only that it was in German.

He was so focused on the raving laughter of this person that he did not notice the room beginning to cool, nor did he notice the shimmering of the air above the fresh cadaver. Mephisto only caught on when the laughing person did, and both reacted in the same way- Warily backing away and watching. Mephisto bumped into something and glanced back, unsure what he had bumped into. Behind him was now a solid wall- The doorway had vanished. As he looked back, he heard the first words he was able to understand.

“You killed me!” yelled a voice, or that’s what Mephisto thought it said. The words had seemed garbled, but the meaning came across fine. The person backed away again, shaking their head rapidly and sputtering. Ignored, the shimmer vanished. The entire room seemed to blink out of existence for a moment, punctuated by pained screams and whines. When it returned, the scene had somewhat changed. The room was now bloody, the second person tiredly standing in front of him.

“Please,” they whined, “I never wanted this, Master..! Don’t hurt me anymore, Father-” While they had been mid-sentence, semi-visible claws cleanly sliced through their torso, causing them to collapse with a final whimper. The person’s tails twitched in the air before limply dropping to the floor. A new sense of horror flooding through him, Mephisto slowly glanced down at them. He now recognized who he was looking at- Himself. Tearing his eyes away, he came face to face with the flaming eyes of an angered spectre. “You! Killed me!” it hissed, goo dripping from it’s jagged-toothed maw.

“N-no..! I didn’t mean to..!” Mephisto whined. He felt as if he was suddenly frozen in place, his eyes locked onto the spirit. He couldn’t do anything as it raised its claws to swing but cry, and cry he did. “Don’t kill me, Father!”

His pleas ignored, the spirit’s claws tore into him. In agony, Mephisto crumpled to the floor. “Faust…” he softly called out, before a second round of being torn into rendered him senseless. It wasn’t until he heard a new voice calling out to him that he was able to shake himself back to alertness, his eyes snapping open and being assaulted by bright light. “Are you okay, Mephisto?”

## –Ch.9–

As soon as Mephisto realized that it was Minako speaking to him, he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position and looked elsewhere. When he didn’t answer, Minako looked elsewhere as well. “Andersen! I told you not to play the scary music! Look what you’ve done!”

Andersen huffed, rolling his eyes. “It’s not my fault he’s got unresolved plot points. I can’t stand any other soundtracks that I’ve found and I’ve got a final draft due tomorrow morning. This is the Hell you accepted when you took me home!”

Satisfied with throwing a cushion at Andersen (which knocked him off his seat), Minako turned back to Mephisto and moved forwards to embrace him. “Danke,” he muttered, leaning into her embrace. “But there’s nothing to worry about! I just almost went deaf!”

Almost in reply, Andersen turned the music louder, as if he didn’t want to be able to hear anything for the next century. Both Minako and Mephisto glared at him, to no effect. Minako irritably snapped something to Andersen, but even Mephisto- who was right next to her- couldn’t hear it.

“What?! I can’t hear you! I’m working with a deadline, you stubborn git!” Andersen yelled, reaching to turn the volume up even louder. With a howl of “Nooooo!”, Minako attempted to launch herself towards him. Even with a slight boost from a spell, she didn’t make it. Fortunately, Mephisto did, turning the speaker off before throwing it across the room. Now Mephisto was the one being glared at, and he gave Andersen his best Cheshire grin.

“What was it you said? I thought you said 'Turn it off’!” Mephisto finally began to laugh, rolling back in the air as he gripped his sides. Andersen huffed and returned to his writing. He didn’t have time for this. Minako, meanwhile, picked herself up off of the floor. She wasn’t sure what she expected, giving herself a magic boost like that, but at least she hadn’t slammed into a wall. This time. She made the mental note that the next time she tried, she should cast the spell the exact moment of her jump.

Mephisto kept on laughing, meanwhile. Minako squinted, unsure what he was still finding funny. Only when he settled down was she able to ask, to which he looked at her and nearly began laughing again. “What was that jump, Master? I’m sorry, you looked like a spatially confused kitten!”

Mephistopheles got his cape pulled, but he was prepared for it this time. He wasn’t going to choke, not again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one had been posted early, as id ran into a huge writer's block. I'm still working on the rest of it, actually haha  
spellchecked as well.  
Jek and Hydes manner of speaking to each other was based on a number of things, but esp the short uhhhhh jekyll series, with super dad Hyde, was some good fucking shit bro
> 
> Also, I don't know if you can tell, but Hans' insults are my #1 favorite thing to write. It's like shakespeare and karkat had a baby in 2010 and studied how to be an asshole. Am i overexaggerating it? yep. fucks? 0.
> 
> Also at this point, I was really unsure about Mephi's interlude, and took it to mean that THATS when faust got 1v1'd, but not PRIOR. but he had to die somehow according to mephi's bio mats, sooooooooooo... not his fault yet. yet. shush.

**Author's Note:**

> Hoo bby. I posted this 2 years ago on tungle and have been debating putting it here too.  
It's not GOOD or anything, but... I mean, I'm proud of it and still working on it?  
And also tumblrs shit so best to put it here
> 
> OH YEAH ACTUAL NOTES  
Spelling errors corrected!  
Mink gets multiple other servants later, so yall aint just stuck with dumb allergic clown man, who barely has fuck all in canon and you know what that means!! It's my city now!! And as Many as Mephisto's canon lines were used as possible, bc i was a lil shit
> 
> ...  
Also, the world of this was intended to be a AND THEN EVERYBODY HAS SERVANTS BC THATS WHAT FGO IS RIGHT (it was not). It then turned out it was really fuckin close to fate/requiem, which was 100% unintentional as id NEVER known shit about other fate works 2 years ago. Ooops????


End file.
